Dell integrates WiFi in notebooks

By
01.15.2003 :: 7:28AM EST

For some time now people have accused Michael Dell of imitating Steve Jobs. Frankly, I don't see it. The two companies could not be more dissimilar. And I don't know exactly what Dell has ever done to make himself personally look like Jobs. This, however, is one of those moves that attracts that sort of implication. Here's the positive: Dell has announced that WiFi antennae will be integrated into all future Latitude notebooks. Dell has made previous models wireless capable by supplying mini-PC cards and such that would add WiFi capability to notebooks, but from now on the antenna will be integrated into the notebook design. Here's the negative: Apple's been doing that for nearly four years with 802.11b, and will start doing the same with 802.11g next Tuesday when their new notebooks start shipping. I'm not slamming or praising either company there. They serve two completely different markets, and I'd say each of them is best of class. I've been using 802.11b for two years now, and it's hard for me to remember that it's not quite a commodity, yet. I don't think it will be much longer, though. 802.11g will hit fairly quickly, I believe, and the nearly 500% connection speed over 802.11b is going to be pretty convincing to consumers, if you ask me. I could be way off here, but I think it's a little bit late to be introducing 802.11b laptops. Still, it's a step in the right direction. AllNetDevices reports, “Dell Makes Wi-Fi Standard on Laptops.”

USER COMMENTS 39 comment(s)

What do you mean “Michael Dell of imitating Steve Jobs”(8:01am EST Wed Jan 15 2003)I'd say Michael Dell is “pulling a Bill Gates”, not imitating Steve Jobs. What do I mean by that? Well, Bill Gates has been ripping off Apple and Jobs' ideas for years and years. – by Jon Warner

Dell is just doing something…(8:19am EST Wed Jan 15 2003)that must be done today. It's like accusing someone of coping someone else because they breath, or pee. – by tech

Jobs a step ahead, Dell stepping up …(9:00am EST Wed Jan 15 2003)Dell is obviously just stepping up and enticing the customers. Once they become educated enough to know about the speed differential b to g, then they can decide whether or not to pay for the difference … and eventually the marketing crew at Dell will snare them into the upgrades! – by tomcous

KDJobs said during the Keynote that the PowerBooks would ship in two weeks.

QUESThat's like saying Ford and Astin Martin serve the same market because they both make cars.

LIKE WIFI BLUETOOTHThe new Apple PowerBooks have 802.11g(compatible with 802.11b) and Bluetooth integrated and start at $1799.Don't hold your breath for a PC notebook with integrated Bluetooth. They just got PC notebooks with 802.11b!!!– by Thomas

bluetooth rules(11:07am EST Wed Jan 15 2003)so i should be able to use a bluetooth keyboard with my bluetooth ipaq 5455 =) – by Vic

integrated now?(11:11am EST Wed Jan 15 2003)i've had a thinkpad i1300 (a real crappy cheap 700 celeron windows machine that was about $1000) when i bought it two years ago and it came with an integrated wireless card, and not a cheap one either a good one with dual antennas made by agere none the less so allthis news by apple and dell abou having wireless options seems like old news to me – by tw

Huh?(11:12am EST Wed Jan 15 2003)I know IBM has had integrated WiFi for a little while now and I'd be surprised if there weren't other manufacturers that were already doing it as well. This hardly seems like anything new. WiFi has become inexpensive and common, so it's a natural for it to be integrated into laptops. – by Scott R

I hope the other wireless (IR) does not disappear.(11:32am EST Wed Jan 15 2003)I like IR ports. With all this hype about WiFi and Bluetooth, I hope IR port still remains on laptops. IR is still pretty cheap. – by like IR

TW – Integrated Now(11:56am EST Wed Jan 15 2003)TW, If you read the article, It states that Apple has had 802.11b built in for nearly four years, so your IBM was old news when you thought it was new news. Apple has now introduced 802.11g into the laptops they announced last week. 802.11g is 500% faster as stated in the article, than 802.11b, and it's backwards compatible to 802.11b so older base stations can still be used. – by TS

Where does this “news” come from(11:58am EST Wed Jan 15 2003)Is this based on some press release or what???

My bosses both got Dell laptops months ago, with built-in wireless cards. There are no PC cards involved, and no external antennae. They work at least as well as my PowerBook, so there must be *some* sort of anntenna in there. – by Goober

deja vu(12:34pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)I got a Dell in 2001 with built-in 802.11b and has been using it since.

And yes, it is a internal (insided the laptop) miniPCI device with an internal (inside the laptop) antenae. I doubt if any user would notice the difference between having it in a miniPCI, or as a chip set on the motherboard itself – you need x-ray vision to see it :) – by unclejung

So the moral is,(12:47pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)You can't do anything that Apple does for fear of being accused of imitating them.

Give me a break.

Yes, Apple integrated wireless technology a few years back. So, does that mean that no PC company can integrate the technology into their products? I didn't know Apple develops, distributes, and licenses IEEE 802.11b. Do they own a patent on integrating IEEE 802.11b into a notebook?

You see, IEEE 802.11b is an international standard that can be freely used by any company that wants the technology in their products. Using it does not mean they are imitating Apple.

Unless Dell created a 17″ ultra slim, titanium encased notebook complete with a DVD/CD burner/reader with a Big Ol' lighted Apple symbol on the cover, then I think Apple fans can give us a little break. – by – –

This helps Apple(12:50pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)With Dell increasing the presence of 802.11b, this can only help the migration to Apple's compatible 802.11g rather than the Intel / Cisco adoption of 802.11a – by Mark Johnson

ARG(12:59pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)I'm not saying Dell is copying Apple's lead. That would be asanine. Obviously the idea of adding 802.11b to a laptop is not something that would only occur to Apple engineers. I'm just saying if it's treated as a big deal, THAT'S kind of sad, because it's old news.

The news here is that WiFi antennae are now standard on all Dell laptops. You could, as some of you noted, get a WiFi notebook before now, but now you can't get a notebook from Dell that doesn't have support for WiFi(in other words, an antenna). – by Thomas

Hehe(1:30pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)What can you say? Some companies (people) are leaders and some are followers… – by Jon Warner

Dell is following Apple(1:58pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)If Apple did not build wireless into it laptops years ago, Dell would have continued putting it on PC cards. They would never have thought to do it, it was the same thing with ethernet, for the longest time you had to buy a separate Ethernet card for every Dell. Even though it is pretty clear that everyone wants it when they buy their computer. It is the same thing with floppies (now they don't include them in all computers). Dell does not innovate they copy. It just shows how long it takes them to realize that something should or should not be part of the computer and they follow Apple's lead. – by pos

HA……HA…….HA(2:15pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)Apple has set the standard and now it has implications to be a real benefit for customers. The only problem is that Dell's quality control and support have literally been pinched away to nothing. The excuse should not be the fact that Dell has increased its sale exponentially. Sure for users, having an integrated wireless solution is a fabulous offer. And Dell may decide to put 802.11g in their notebooks eventually. But just like Apple, Dell has to start somewhere. Hopefully future customers of the what-have-you and knock off brands of all notebooks, and laptops will realize the ease of wireless technologies. Apple does not own rights to the standard. Dell only chose to integrate the 802.11b because of the current supplemental hardware and optional products they currently feature and have been selling. It's a marketing plan that is as lucritive as it can be. The world is not going to make a 180 change to the 802.11g, especially in quarter one of 2003, so why sacrifice a customer, just to give them a nice feature. Apple needs to work out other kinks and not try so hard to be different. Sure you can stand out, but look at how cheap their products really are….As far as construction the powerbooks are very flimsy and internally they are a joke. Looks aren't everything..and that's just one of Apple's products……….Point being, maybe Dell should anti up the quality and offer not only Wi-Fi but a feature packed product that offers superior harware at a competitive price….as far as software, well, that's a different story – by jbjur

re: —(2:40pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)It's 802.11b, not IEEE 802.11b. So the real moral is this: If you're going to make a point, at least get the facts straight, dumbass. – by gom

It's not following but the pretense(4:33pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)When Mr. Dell comes out and announces to the world that Dell is the first to introduce “this or that” technology into their product line it usually means that it has been a standard feature in Apple's products for some time. I don't object to Dell following Apples lead (not everyone is a leader) its the bullshit that I and most people object to. – by Kerryb

Built-in antennae ..(5:06pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)A built-in antenna really shouldn't give a damn if the card on motherboard or mini-PCI is 802.11b or 802.11g. Granted, Dell may be talking about just doing 802.11b now, but the hard work (integrating the antenna and getting good transmission with it) will be done when they are ready to move up to 802.11g.

On the other hand, that is assuming that Dell is getting iBook-level efficiency from their built-in antennae, which won't be known until we get a chance to try them out. Still, putting the antennae in physically is the hard part swapping one controller chip for another is a simple swap process.

Apple's ahead in this regard, but not as far ahead as the article seems to imply.– by Jet Tredmont

D/L'ing porn at the speed of light!!!(5:38pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)So has anyone seen 802.11g cards available in PCMCIA form factor yet? You'd thing Cisco would have one but I have yet to see it. Of course considering .11g is on the doorstep of being released it makes sense to hold out a little longer buy a .llg card seeing as how it's still backwards compatible with .llb networks…

Just wondering if these cards are available yet…

– by Ron Jeremy

WiFi Speed(5:39pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)FYI the airport (apple wifi) allows intercomputer connection, I do it all the time, and it makes a 4 times difference the speed that you can transfer files and documents. So, it isn't just for your DSL. – by Jose

SILLY people!(7:00pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)can't u do your math.. i was about to do an whole article paying u out.. but i'm too lazy!

and besides it's been done before..

also you guys don't know your real facts sometimes i iknow more.. and i could write better articles! – by APPLE KNOWLEDGE

Dell(10:25pm EST Wed Jan 15 2003)Since when is Dell cutting edge?. It just copies the leader and undercuts the competition to the point of transforming the PC into a commodity. Apple is a totally different beast and is producing the most interesting and enjoyable products to date. I have been on wireless since 1999 with my iBook, complete with built in antennae for it!!!! That is four years ago, or eons when dealing with the digital age. So that is what Dell is going to put in their laptop? God what a breakthrough. – by Viv the menace

Dell(1:25am EST Thu Jan 16 2003)I would have to agree with Viv the menace. Dell is providing a low cost product to consumers and I don't think they're going to, or should change their products and market as jbjur seems to suggest they should. Dell and Apple both making news with wifi is interesting….but this article has just brought that ridiculous Dell/Apple debate over here…I don't believe that Apple and Dell should be directly compared since they seem to be dealing with inherently different markets. – by 2sense

Dell(1:25am EST Thu Jan 16 2003)I would have to agree with Viv the menace. Dell is providing a low cost product to consumers and I don't think they're going to, or should change their products and market as jbjur seems to suggest they should. Dell and Apple both making news with wifi is interesting….but this article has just brought that ridiculous Dell/Apple debate over here…I don't believe that Apple and Dell should be directly compared since they seem to be dealing with inherently different markets. – by 2cents

The news is only the fact that this will be provided IN STANDARD(5:44am EST Fri Jan 17 2003)Of course, Dell has notebooks with integrated WiFi and antenna since a while now. I am now using a C400 with integrated Wi-Fi that I did buy 6 month ago in Europe. The only difference is that at this moment, I had to take it as an option. Now you should choice not to have it instead. That's all folks. – by BelgiumGuy

Apple didn't invent WiFi(10:24pm EST Sun Apr 04 2004)The only Apple product that dell can rightly be accused of imitating is the ipod. – by sref

comparison between dell.,apple and ibm(1:19pm EST Tue Nov 15 2005)i am a student of journalist in the biggest media house of india ,TIMES OF INDIA, i am doing a project on dell as a part of my presentation i would be really thankful to u if u could throw some light on these 3 brands .

Q1what i want to know is even though dell and apple r not in india apple and ibm are well known but not dell ,inspite of being a leader in us and on a world level.why is it so?

Q2.will the DELL's direct model work in india which already has so many local dealers who can customise the computers at very cheap costs.

Q3.when it comes to technology are dell products equal to or better than ibm and apple.– by bhim